Gabon paid for protecting forests, in African first

Yahoo – AFP, Tue, June 22, 2021 

Gabon has been a leader in central Africa in preserving its rainforest, creating
13 national parks since 2000 that cover around 11 percent of the country.

Gabon has become the first African nation to receive a financial reward for protecting its forests as part of international efforts to fight climate change, the government announced Tuesday. 

Gabon has received $17 million in recompense for successfully cutting its carbon emissions by reducing deforestation and forest degradation, the environment ministry said in a statement. 

The payment came "after independent experts verified Gabon's results" showing that the country's carbon emissions in 2016-17 had dropped compared with the annual figures for 2006-15. 

The funds were delivered by the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), an organisation launched in 2015 by the United Nations and backed by international donors. 

The scheme provides financial incentives to Central African governments to pursue economic growth without harming the vast forests that cover much of the region. 

The world's rainforests are seen as a vital weapon in the fight against climate change by sucking out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

Gabon, where forests cover 90 percent of the territory, is home to some 18 percent of the Congo Basin forest, known as "the second lung of the planet" after the Amazon. 

Under a 10-year deal signed with CAFI in 2019, Gabon is set to receive a total of $150 million if it meets its carbon-cutting targets. 

Gabon is home to nearly 60 percent of Africa's remaining forest elephants,listed
in March as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature

The small tropical country has pledged to cut its carbon emissions in half by 2025 from 2005 levels. 

The forests in Gabon alone "absorb a total of 140 million tonnes of CO2 each year, which is equivalent to removing 30 million cars from circulation throughout the world," the environment ministry said. 

Gabon has been a leader in Central Africa in preserving its rainforests, creating 13 national parks since 2000 that cover around 11 percent of the country. 

Norwegian Environment Minister Sveinung Rotevatn, whose government is a major donor to CAFI, said Gabon had "demonstrated that with vision, dedication and strong dynamism, reductions in (CO2) emissions can be achieved in the Congo Basin forest". 

Gabon's environment ministry said the first cash payment would notably be used to invest in local forestry projects. 

"The aim is to improve the income, livelihoods and well-being of communities in Gabon," it said. 

Along with fighting climate change, protecting the world's rainforests is seen as key to staving off threats to biodiversity. 

Gabon is home to nearly 60 percent of Africa's remaining forest elephants, listed in March as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. 

Pope pleads with Madagascans to protect rainforest

Yahoo – AFP, Tsiresena MANJAKAHERY, Catherine MARCIANO, September 7, 2019

Pope Francis planted a baobab tree with Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina
at the presidential palace in Antananarivo (AFP Photo/MARCO LONGARI)

Antananarivo (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday made an impassioned plea to Madagascans to protect the Indian Ocean's unique environment from "excessive deforestation", on the second leg of his African tour.

Weeks after a spike of fires in the Amazon, the Argentine pontiff told his hosts they should "create jobs and money-making activities which respect the environment and help people escape poverty".

Madagascar -- famed for its immense diversity of flora and fauna -- is home to 25 million people, the vast majority of whom live in poverty on an income of less than two dollars a day.

More than half of its young people are out of work, even if many boast good qualifications.

The pope said there "were many causes driving excessive deforestation which benefits just a few people... and compromises the future of the country."

The authorities should also ensure social justice, he added.

The Pope presided over a vigil mass in the Androhibe Soamandrakizay diocesan 

grounds (AFP Photo/RIJASOLO).

'Alarm raised'

Madagascar's British ambassador Philip Boyle told AFP the country loses around 200,000 hectares of forest each year, adding that "most of the tropical rainforest could disappear by 2040".

he country's economy is largely dependent on agriculture, the export of vanilla and cocoa in particular.

"The alarm has been raised by the pope and we are ready to take on the challenge," environment minister Alexandre Georget told AFP.

He said Madagascar would do more to prevent forest fires, and use tree-planting drones and aerial seed bombing techniques to restore its forests.

"In six months we reached an objective of planting 40,000 hectares of land (98,000 acres), but this is pointless when there are forest fires" said Georget, adding that laws would be enforced and farmers made more aware of the issue.

Liberal-leaning president Andry Rajoelina was elected to a second term last year mainly on promises of jobs and housing.

"Corruption and inequality outrage us," said Archbishop Desire Tsarahazana, addressing the pope in his welcome speech.

Pope Francis waved to the crowds as he arrived for a vigil with young people

in Antananarivo (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Hope for the young

At Antananarivo's Soamandrakizay stadium, thousands of young people - mainly scouts - gathered for a vigil. They waited for hours in the heat.

"I am here to ask for the pope's blessing to face the harsh realities of life, insecurity, poverty and corruption," said 17-year old student Njara Raherimana, who travelled hundreds of kilometres for the event.

"All this gives me hope for change in my country," echoed fellow student, Antony Christian Tovonalintsoa, who lives in the outskirts of the capital.

During the vigil, Pope Francis lauded the "joy and enthusiasm" of the singing crowd.

He encouraged the youth not to fall into "bitterness" or to lose hope, even when they lacked the "necessary minimum" to get by and when "educational opportunities were insufficient".

The faithful lined the streets to welcome Francis to the Madagascan capital 

(AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

800,000 faithful expected

Sunday will mark the high point of Francis' visit with a huge mass in the capital expected to be attended by some 800,000 faithful.

Many had already started setting up tents on the outskirts of the city on Friday, armed with posters of the Argentine pontiff.

Prospere Ralitason, a 70-year-old farm worker, arrived with some 5,000 fellow pilgrims from the central eastern town of Ambatondrazaka, 200 kilometres (125 miles) away.

"We are tired, but it's worth making all these sacrifices to see the pope with our own eyes and receive his blessing," he told AFP,

The high point of Francis' visit will be a huge mass on Sunday attended by 

crowds of 800,000 (AFP Photo/RIJASOLO)

John Paul II

The last pope to visit was John Paul II 30 years ago.

"I was a lieutenant when I helped with the security of John Paul II in 1989. Today I am a divisional general and overseeing security for Francis' visit to Madagascar," said Samuel Rakotomalala.

Some 700 police officers will be deployed at the site, which is also equipped with 200 surveillance cameras and the 12,000 young scouts will also help out.

In June, 16 people were killed and dozens hurt in a stampede outside a sports stadium in the capital during a free concert.

Francis visited Mozambique earlier in the week. He is also due to travel to the island of Mauritius, which like Madagascar is situated off the eastern coast of Africa.

Greenpeace urges more action on central African forest fires

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2019

Active fires in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 24 hours. (AFP Photo/
Sabrina BLANCHARD)

Kinshasa (AFP) - Greenpeace on Tuesday called on governments to take more action to combat central African forest fires that have come into the spotlight since the global outcry over blazes burning in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.

The Congo Basin forests - covering parts of DR Congo, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and Cameroon - are often referred to as the "second green lung" of the planet after the Amazon.

"Greenpeace Africa calls on the Congo Basin governments to take immediate measures to prevent fires from hitting the rainforest," the environmental group said in a statement.

"For the long-term, governments must end all industrial activity within the world’s second largest rainforest."

Since August 21, more than 6,902 fires in Angola and 3,395 fires in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo have been documented, predominantly in the savanna area, the group said without giving any comparisons from past years.

Like the Amazon, Greenpeace said, the Congo Basin rainforest still faces a risk of being hit again by uncontrolled fires.

Experts say fires in the Amazon are mainly because of climate change and drought whereas in central Africa fires are often seasonal and triggered by traditional slash-and-burn farming methods.

Just like the Amazon, the forests of the Congo Basin absorb tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in trees and marshes -- seen by experts as a key way to combat climate change.

Most of the fires shown on NASA satellite maps of central Africa are outside sensitive rainforest areas, analysts say, making drawing comparisons to the current Amazon blazes more complicated.

Benin tackles climate change with sunshine and coconuts

Yahoo – AFP, Delphine Bousquet, 17 Nov 2015

Philomene Ahouansou cooks beans and rice by the roadside using a 

solar-powered cooker in Porto-Novo, Benin (AFP Photo/Delphine Bousquet)

Porto-Novo (Benin) (AFP) - Philomene Ahouansou cooks beans and rice in three giant steel pots by the roadside in Benin's capital, Porto-Novo. It's a scene that's common throughout the country.

But instead of a wood-fuelled stove, she's using a solar-powered cooker run on coconut husks, which it's hoped will prevent deforestation and reduce greenhouse gas-producing smoke.

The device -- called "Mivo", which means "Take it easy" in the local Fon language -- has been marketed by a charity called Autre Vie.

For the last three years, the organisation has been trying to turn Beninese away from their reliance on charcoal or wood, which is used in four out of five households for cooking.

"When I heard the advert on the radio, I went straight to the Autre Vie offices to buy three," said Philomene.

"There's no smoke getting in your eyes, it's not too hot, you don't have to ventilate it so the fire takes hold. You can work with it all day," she added.

A solar-powered cooker, called "Mivo", which means "Take it easy" in the 

local Fon language -- has been marketed by a charity called Autre Vie in 

Porto-Novo (AFP Photo)

'We leave the trees in peace'

The cooker -- a metal cylinder with a ceramic bowl on top for the fuel -- works on the convection principle.

A fan -- made from recovered computer parts -- is fixed on one side to a power cable and plugged into a solar panel with a rechargeable battery.

The light from the sun powers the fan, sending a constant stream of hot air to allow cooking.

LED lightbulbs can be attached to the solar panels to give light to customers without electricity, allowing them to stop using dangerous and noxious oil lamps.

"I used wood before. It cost me a lot of money, 25,000 CFA francs ($42, 38 euros) a month," said Philomene. "Coconut husks now cost me 5,000 CFA francs a month."

Most people, like Philomene, cite financial reasons for buying the cooker but they also now know it's more environmentally friendly.

"We leave the trees in peace in the forest. That gives us rain and when it rains things grow. So, it protects us," she said.

With every purchase, Autre Vie tells customers about climate change.

"We cut down trees illegally for charcoal," said young mother Chimene Agossou, who lives in a household of 13 that switched to cooking with sunshine and coconuts two years ago.

"When we extract the coconut oil we're left with the husks. That's not killing the forests."

Executive director of the charity Autre Vie (Another Life) Romuald Djivoessoun

 poses with a solar-powered cooker in Porto-Novo (AFP Photo)

Inspired by blacksmiths

Romuald Djivoessoun made his first prototype of the cooker 10 years ago after seeing blacksmiths burn coconut shells in the forge to melt iron.

He honed the design over the years with the help of craftsmen and academics.

"This cooker is going to reduce deforestation and as a result greenhouse gases," said the talkative engineer who runs Autre Vie.

"For a family of four, a bag of shells lasts six months. With charcoal you need a bag and a half every month. You have to cut wood."

Forests cover only 17 percent of Benin yet some 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) of forests are disappearing every year, according to Benin's forest and natural resources directorate.

Charcoal production is blamed for part of it.

One study estimated that between 2009 and 2010, charcoal production doubled.

Autre Vie managed to convince 200 female charcoal burners to find and adapt coconut husks for use in the solar cookers.

With financial support from the UN development fund some 800 cookers have now been sold, despite being costly for low-income Benin at 55,000 CFA francs.

Workers make solar-powered cookers at a factory in Akpro-Misserete, outside

of Porto-Novo on October 1, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Djivoessoun said demand is high, with 120 clients on the waiting list, and local craftsmen can't keep up.

The Akpro-Misserete council, near Porto-Novo, donated land to build a small factory to enable more industrial-scale production, which should lower prices and also allow different sizes of cookers to be made.

World leaders are set to gather in Paris in early December for an environmental summit on climate change but Djivoessoun is not happy.

"Small initiatives are not being encouraged. It costs nothing to finance but the impacts are enormous," he said.

Heads of state should look to schemes such as his to make a bigger impact, he added.

Soco, WWF strike deal to halt oil drive in Africa's oldest park

Yahoo – AFP, 11 June 2014

A pair of baby gorillas are seen at Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga

National Park, on September 22, 2012 (AFP Photo/Luanne Cadd)

Geneva (AFP) - Environmental campaigners WWF and oil exploration firm Soco International announced on Wednesday that the British firm had agreed to halt its hunt for oil in part of Africa's oldest national park.

In a joint statement, they said the WWF had in turn pledged not to pursue a complaint against Soco which it had filed with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The two sides have locked horns over plans to tap oil in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga park, home to 3,000 species including the endangered gorillas immortalised by the film "Gorillas in the Mist".

A peacekeeper of the Monusco, the UN

 mission in DR Congo, patrolls near an 

entrance to Virunga National Park, on

 March 11, 2014 (AFP Photo/Alain 

Wandimoyi)

"Both parties look forward to working responsibly with the Democratic Republic of Congo and its people to ensure that future development benefits both people and the environment," Wednesday's statement said.

The 7,800-square-kilometre (3,000-square-mile) Virunga park was created in 1925 when the country was a Belgian colony.

Despite its own environmental rules and international accords, the government of the conflict-wracked but resource-rich republic in 2007 awarded oil concessions in much of the park.

The UN cultural body UNESCO has said oil exploration and exploitation would breach Virunga's World Heritage site status, and in May last year French giant Total -- Soco's fellow concession holder -- said it would not drill there.

Soco has already begun seismic testing in the area, though in a separate statement it underlined that no drilling commitments had ever been made.

"In relation to Virunga National Park we will complete our existing operational programme of work in Virunga which we anticipate will conclude within approximately 30 days of the date of this statement," Soco said in the joint statement.

"The company commits not to undertake or commission any exploratory or other drilling within Virunga National Park unless UNESCO and the DRC government agree that such activities are not incompatible with its World Heritage status," it added.

In addition, it said that it had committed not to conduct operations in any other World Heritage site.

Belgian conservationist Emmanuel de 

Merode, Director of DR Congo's Virunga

 National Park, speaks at an event to launch

 the United for Wildlife campaign

 #WhoseSideAreYouOn, in London, on 

June 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)

In a separate company statement, Soco chairman Rui de Sousa underlined that the accord with the WWF also focused on the need for the Congolese government and UNESCO to "reach an agreement on the best way to combine development and the environment."

The WWF also issued a statement, in which its director general Marco Lambertini lauded the deal as "a victory for our planet and for good practices in business".

The park includes part of Lake Edward, a huge expanse of water whose fisheries generate an estimated $30 million (22 million euros) annually for local communities, according to the WWF.

The WWF has also said that the park has huge potential for the sustainable development of hydropower and ecotourism.

"If free from the threat of oil, Virunga can be a continuing source of hope for the people of DRC. As in other African countries, with proper investment, this park can become a leading economic driver for its communities," said Raymond Lumbuenamo, head of the WWF's operations in the country.

New water protection initiative forces Nigerians to use toilets

Deutsche Welle, 6 January 2014

Nigerian officials are handing out fines to anyone who defecates in open spaces such as forests. They are also offering toilet education workshops in an effort to prevent human waste from fouling the country's water.

Carrying her two year old daughter on her back, Laraba Alaghaye is walking slowly to her local pond. Alaghaye lives in Kyuzhi, a small community in rural Nigeria. A worn footpath lined with grass, trees and shrubs leads up to the brown body of water, which is filled with rain runoff and groundwater.

This is the closest drinking water source for this community in the dry season, between December and April. Locals have to dig deeper at this time of year to access enough water. In the past the water here hasn't been clean either.

"My stomach started hurting when I drank this water," Alaghaye tells DW. "My baby also needed to defecate; then she was crying and complaining of stomach pains. It was the same for my husband."

"When we went to the hospital, they told us it was the water we drank. They told me that if I want to take this water, I should boil it."

Open defecation and sickness

Laraba Alaghaye fetches water with
 her child, in the small community of
Kyuzhi

The problem with many sources of drinking water in small communities like this: they are infected with bacteria from human waste. In fact, Kannan Nadar, of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said last November at a World Toilet Day event that no fewer than 100 million Nigerians lack access to toilets across the country, while more than 45 million defecated in the open.

Open defecation leads to high rates of infant mortality across the country and diseases such as cholera, experts say. It also stunts the growth of otherwise growing communities. Often, the issue is not talked about openly because it is considered shameful, which makes solving the problem even more difficult.

But, a little more than a year ago, some members from the Kyuzhi community were educated about the problems related to people defecating in the open. The workshop was one of many recently across Nigeria on the issue of open defecation.

"They taught us not just how to improve personal hygiene, but also how to keep the entire community clean," says local resident, Tanko Ayuba Kyuzhi who took part in the workshop.

"In the community before, people used to defecate in the open. But now it doesn't happen anymore, and the community has formed an environmental task team.”

Ayuba says most people have stopped defecating in the open. Anyone violating that agreement - even children - are stamped with a fine by the community environmental task team of around 2,000 Naira (9 euros; $13).

"We only caught three people defecating out in the open last year," he told DW, highlighting the progress that has been made.

Community-led total sanitation

Some communities in rural Nigeria
 have little access to toilets, often
preferring to defecate in the forest

The workshops are run according to the concept of community-led total sanitation, or CLTS. The classes often include community leaders, women and youth and force locals to confront the issue of open defecation.

Typically, participants go to an open defecation site and inspect it. The links between human waste and local diseases are then explained.

Such sessions are often quite confronting and emotional for those taking part. But, they have the desired effect, says Otive Igbuzo, from the African Center for Leadership Strategy and Development, who helped organize the workshops in Kyuzhi.

"A fining policy will only work if a majority of the people have made that behavioral change, so you have only a few deviants or new entrants into the community which you then whip into line with that sanction or fine," says Igbuzo.

"If you only fine in a community where that behavior change has not happened, the fine will not work."

Back at the local pond, Laraba Alaghaye says she is in favor of the fines. And, she agrees that most of the community has bought into it. Now, toilets have been installed in areas and new defecation sites have been set up.

"If my child tells me that he wants to defecate, I follow him, and show him the place he should do that so that I can bury it," she told DW.

"If I see another person’s child doing it (in the wrong area) I tell the mother, because I don’t want to see the community dirty," she said.

China 'smuggles' Mozambique timber - EIA

BBC News, 7 February 2013

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Mozambique's forestry laws are constantly
breached, environmentalists say.

Nearly half of the timber exported from Mozambique to China is illegal, a pressure group has said.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said its investigation showed that Mozambican politicians and Chinese traders were systematically involved in timber smuggling and illegal logging.

This has caused Mozambique to loose tens of millions of dollars a year in tax revenues, it added.

Mozambique is one of the world's poorest countries.

However, its economy has been growing rapidly since the civil war ended in 1992.

Many foreign companies, including Chinese-owned, are tapping into its natural resources, although critics say that most poor people are not benefiting from the surge in business.

The EIA said its undercover investigation showed that China's demand for raw timber was having a devastating impact on Mozambique, and over the past six years there had been a clear pattern of illegal logging and timber smuggling.

High-level politicians, working with Chinese traders, were continuously breaching Mozambique's export and forest laws, the EIA added.

Of all the Mozambican timber exported to China last year, 48% was thought to have come from illegal logging, resulting in a loss of tens of millions of dollars a year in tax revenues, it said.

The EIA said the Mozambican government should introduce an immediate timber export ban, and investigate corruption in the forestry sector.

African summit calls for action on rainforests

BBC News, By Thomas Hubert, Brazzaville, 3 June 2011

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Representatives of 18 rainforest countries have met to strengthen co-operation between the three main forest regions in the world.

Deforestation is just one of the threats
facing the world's rainforests

The heads of state and government ministers met in Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo.

They called for more international funding for forest conservation in the fight against climate change.

However, they failed to agree on a formal structure to co-ordinate forestry policies around the Equator.

All the pomp of African summits was on display to show the world that rainforest conservation is now a top diplomatic priority for the 35 South American, African and South-East Asian countries invited to take part in this week's summit in Brazzaville.

But only half of them - mostly African nations - sent high-level envoys to Friday's final meeting.

Participants insisted that their forests provided international services such as carbon sequestration [removing carbon from the atmosphere] as well as opportunities to reduce poverty for the estimated 1.5 billion people who make a living from the forests.

One example discussed over the past week was food production from giant snails in the Cameroonian jungle.

Many countries sent ministers instead of heads of state

According to a report prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation for the summit, deforestation has gone down by a quarter in the past 10 years but forests are still being depleted at an alarming rate.

Countries with rainforests agreed to hold regular ministerial meetings and co-ordinate their positions before a fresh round of international climate change and environment talks scheduled for December in South Africa and next year in Brazil.

They made it clear that they are not happy with the financial assistance received from developed nations so far, as expressed by Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, who was appointed by the summit to act as roving ambassador for the three tropical forest basins.

"In the Copenhagen accord, $10bn ($6bn) was pledged per annum," he said.

"The developed world, in their interaction with us, is saying 'this money is being disbursed'. For us, we don't see any evidence of this disbursement. So where is this money going?"

Most countries from the Amazon and Borneo-Mekong basins did not attend the summit and others sent ministers instead of heads of state.

As a result, the signature of a draft pact circulated here to establish a permanent co-operation body for the world's three largest rainforest basins was postponed until next year.

However, NGO representatives and diplomats seemed pleased with the outcome of the meeting. One delegate said that he would have expected its message to be much more watered down.

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